Slippery Substance Will End the Ketchup Conundrum

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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Slippery Substance Will End the Ketchup Conundrum



World's slipperiest substance will help get last drops of ketchup from the bottle. SCIENCE!

Harvard University is an institution of fine learning that's been renowned in this country for generations. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau discussed Transcendentalism while walking its halls and more than a few Presidents call Harvard their alma mater. But perhaps the greatest achievement to come out Harvard is a new substance that is so slippery that it will finally allow consumers to get all of the ketchup from the bottle.

Taking a cue from the carnivorous pitcher plant which traps insects by sliding them down a slippery slope, materials scientist Joanna Aizenberg led a team which created a Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surface (or SLIPS) which has the very rare trait called of omniphobicity - meaning it repels both oil and water. Such a material has hundreds of applications - from plane de-icing to anti-graffiti measures - but one stands out above the rest.

"It is a problem we all face - we have a bottle of sauce and we are trying to get the last bit out but nothing is happening," said Aizenberg. "If we used substance like ours to coat the inside of bottles, it would be possible to get it all out."

Such incredibly slippery surfaces are not without risks, however. They must be handled with extreme caution lest we have rampant condiment flooding. "The only problem may be that the sauce may come out a little too easily on to their food," Aizenberg said.

While we are all interested in a solution to the ketchup conundrum, SLIPS could also provide a lubricant for Arctic habitation, aid oil pipelines by coating the inside of the pipe, and even prevent ships' hulls from being fouled with bacteria.

How you like them apples?

Source: Harvard [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8886307/Super-slippery-material-could-mean-end-to-having-to-wait-for-ketchup.html]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/artbystevejohnson/5224551871/sizes/m/in/photostream/])

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EternalFacepalm

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Feb 1, 2011
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FOR SCIENCE!
I didn't like the part about useful stuff, but I do hate the last bit of ketchup not getting out.
 

DasDestroyer

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Apr 3, 2010
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This is the mankind's single greatest invention. There is literally NOTHING in existence more use useful than this.
 

emeraldrafael

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Jul 17, 2010
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What do you mean how do you solve the ketchup conundrum? When you get to those last few drops, you break the bottle and knife it out.

This will actually probably screw up the way I eat my ketchup, so im personally not thrilled, but I can see why others would like this.
 

Xanadu84

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Apr 9, 2008
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So when does this material cost so little that it plus the cost of applying the lubricant amounts to being cheaper then the half an ounce of ketchup in the bottom of containers?

Yay for being a killjoy!

But anyways, yeah, the applications for this are pretty amazing, Ketchup bottles being the least interesting though most eye catching application.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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Well ive been using squeezy plastic bottles for my ketchup for longer than i can remember. Before that last bit was nothing that centrifugal force and persistance couldnt solve.

Now? Ill just wait for the other uses of this SLIPS stuff to crop up.
 

WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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Xanadu84 said:
So when does this material cost so little that it plus the cost of applying the lubricant amounts to being cheaper then the half an ounce of ketchup in the bottom of containers?

Yay for being a killjoy!

But anyways, yeah, the applications for this are pretty amazing, Ketchup bottles being the least interesting though most eye catching application.
I think its a good thing he stated the other useful, er... uses for this stuff. Cause if this was only for katchup, I would have had to drive to Harvard and put some boots up peoples asses for not solving more important problems first.
 

ElPatron

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Jul 18, 2011
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Who cares about the last ketchup on the bottle? I personally think it's disgusting, the flavour is different and so is the consistency.


If it's so slippery how will they collect it without spilling? Ah!
 

esperandote

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Feb 25, 2009
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That graffiti use is what i'm interested in. Imagine the faces of the kids trying to write griffiti on my walls when the paint falls down.
 

Davidm4

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Aug 4, 2011
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DasDestroyer said:
This is the mankind's single greatest invention. There is literally NOTHING in existence more use useful than this.
*Sarcasm Detector explodes*

What is the Ketchup Conundrum? Ketchup or Catsup
 

DasDestroyer

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Apr 3, 2010
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Davidm4 said:
DasDestroyer said:
This is the mankind's single greatest invention. There is literally NOTHING in existence more use useful than this.
*Sarcasm Detector explodes*

What is the Ketchup Conundrum? Ketchup or Catsup
What is this cat soup you speak of?
 

Delsana

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Aug 16, 2011
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I don't even like Ketchup... actually I quite abhor it is as it has an AWFUL texture.

In any case... this is another case of money going to things that don't need it.